HSBC has reintroduced physical valuations in England and Scotland and will do so in Northern Ireland from Monday.
The lender says it will now operate to a pre-lockdown timetable, which should see physical valuations completed within four days of application.
It will be resume physical valuations in Wales when the lockdown rules ease there.
Buy-to-let mortgages are also being made available again, direct from the lender. These were paused while physical valuations were not possible.
HSBC UK’s head of buying a home Michelle Andrews says: “The restrictions on the movement of people and access to property meant that we had to change the way we approached the valuation of properties – an essential part of the home buying process – to ensure we are providing responsible lending.
“Where we could we expanded our use of desktop and automated valuations, so mortgage applications could continue. In some cases, like higher LTV applications and buy-to-let mortgages, it is an essential part of the process, so unfortunately those applications had to be paused.
“I am pleased to say that we have now, with the help of our corporate valuations partners, addressed our backlog of physical valuations in England and Scotland and those mortgages that were on hold are progressing, taking those buying a home one step closer to a potentially dream move.”
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